Jinzou Kokoro
by Valkerix
Summary: This is the tale of the Eye, a player trapped in SAO. He uses spears, and can see data in the game. Who or what is he? Rated T because gore is hard to come by in a virtual world.
1. Chapter 1: It's a Trap

**I do not own Sword Art Online or affiliated names. I only own my OC(s).**

Jinzou Kokoro: Chapter 1

Sword Art Online. The newest, most anticipated game of 2022. A VRMMORPG, it utilizes the full-dive technology of the Nerve Gear to send player to the virtual castle in the sky, Aincrad. Only 10,000 copies of the game were made, including those of the beta testers. This is the story of one player.

"Link start!" A rainbow of colors passes by, then five circles appear, all flashing a green color and saying "OK". The language selected is Japanese, and our hero enters his username and password. A text box pops up.

"Beta test data available. Would you like to use it?" He selects the text box saying "Yes." The words Sword Art Online appear in black, then a rush of blue colors.

He opens his eyes, staring at hands clad in black fingerless gloves. Below the gloves is a dark forest green shirt. On his chest is a metal chest plate, small enough to allow mobility but still add enough defense as to be useful. His pants are black as well, and are kept in place by a brown belt. His face is covered on one side by somewhat long black hair, and his eyes are royal purple. He is about five feet, ten inches (177.8 cm) tall, and lean, but not skinny. His visible ear has a small silver earring, in the shape of a dragon's head. On his back is a simple spear, made of dark brown wood and a simple but efficient metal blade. "It's good to be back." His voice is semi-deep, with a musical tone to it.

He starts walking out to the field to hunt when a man in blue with a sword passes by him. A voice calls out: "Oi, you there!" The spearman turns his head and sees a man with pink hair in white clothes chasing the blue clothed man. He looks forward again and keeps heading to the field.

Once there, he takes the spear off his back, holding it in his left hand about halfway down the shaft. He begins to run, straight towards a group of boars. He grips the spear in both hands, holding the blade to his right. He passes by the first boar, slashing its flank, then spins, catching the boar's counterattack on his spear. Kicking at the boar's leg, it falls to the ground and he brings up his spear and stabs it, dispersing it into rainbow particles. The next boar rushes at him and he spins, dodging and slashing at it at the same time. Flipping the spear upside down, he slashes at the beast's belly, and immediately stabs it in its neck. It also explodes, and he turns to the final boar of the group. It charges at him and he rolls to the side. Picking up a stone, he uses a sword skill to enrage it. It charges again and this time, he jumps up over the boar, slashing along its back. The boar turns and he lowers the spear, and it glows purple. He surges forward, a rippling effect appearing as he flashes toward the boar. He passes by the monster and a red line appears along the beast's side. It stops and disperses as the spearman recovers from the motion-freeze from the sword skill.

He continues killing mobs for the next few hours, until at about 17:30. A bell sounds out across the server several times, and suddenly he glows as he is force teleported to the town square. He looks around and it seems as though all the players have been teleported here. Suddenly, red system announcement panels appear in the sky and start oozing a red liquid, forming into a gigantic being in a red robe, his face hidden by a hood.

The figure speaks: "Attention players. Welcome to my world. I am Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the only person who can control this world. I'm sure many of you have noticed that the logout button in the main menu has been removed. This is not a mistake. I repeat, this is not a mistake, but a feature of Sword Art Online. You are unable to logout of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove or disrupt the NerveGear. If this is attempted, a powerful burst of microwave radiation will fry your brain."

"Of course, people have already tried to remove the NerveGear from their friends and family. As of now, 213 players have retired, both in-game, and in real life." Several news articles pop up. "As you can see, news of my warning and the victims is being spread worldwide. Thus, removal attempts should stop by now. But I'd like you to keep this in mind. All revival methods in this game are now non-functional. Should your HP hit zero, then your avatar will disappear, and your life with it."

"There is only one way to escape SAO. That is to clear all 100 floors and beat the game. Finally, I have prepared a present for each of you in your inventories." At this everyone checks their inventories and a mirror materializes in each person's hand. Everyone starts glowing blue, and when the light ends, they appear as what the man assumes to be their real life appearances. The spearman now has slightly spiky hair that points backwards, and is still black. His face is softer, but his eyes are the same. There is general panic and confusion before Kayaba Akihiko speaks again. "Right now you're probably wondering 'Why?'. 'Why would I, the creator of SAO and the NerveGear, do this?' I have already achieved my goal. I have created the world of Sword Art Online for my enjoyment. And now, the preparations are complete. This concludes the tutorial for the launch of SAO. I wish you the best of luck.

He fades away and chaos ensues as people have breakdowns, unable to believe what was happening. Almost all the beta testers run off to take advantage of their experience, and run off to the next town to take the experience, including the boy in blue from earlier, who leaves behind the man in white. Analyzing the situation, the spearman turns and walks away to go grind more mobs. His face and mind are inhumanly calm considering that he's trapped in a death game. Silently, he turns and walks off calmly toward the city edge.

* * *

A month later, a meeting is being called for a raid on the floor boss, who had finally been found. The spearman has a new weapon, a decorative spear with a dragon spiraling from the blade down about three inches of the shaft, and a claw at the bottom, sharpened, but not very long, limiting its use in combat. He also has new gloves, still black, but with silver armor plates n the finger segments and the back of the hands. He approaches the meeting place softly, as it has already begun. He sees a blue haired man wearing a sword and shield speaking, as the others sit on the bleachers. The blue haired man says to split into parties of six people. Everyone immediately pairs up with their friends. The spear user scans the others, and spots a few that stand out. A tall, dark-skinned man, the boy in blue from the Town of Beginnings, and a girl in a cloak. He sees the boy scoot over to the girl and start talking to her.

Suddenly, a man with orange spiky hair appears at the top of the bleachers. "Wait a second!" Jumping down, the others are impressed, but he seems a little unbalanced, and it's surprising that he makes it. "I'm Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take down the boss." He turns to the crowd. "Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand who have died so far!"

Murmurs sound out throughout the crowd. Diavel, the blue haired man, addresses Kibaou. "Kibaou-san, are you talking about the beta testers?"

"You bet! The day this death game started, the beta guys ditched us new to the game, and all disappeared. They took all the easy quests and good hunting spots, so they could get stronger. Then they just ignored us! Someone here must be from the beta! Whoever it is should get on their knees and beg forgiveness, and give up all the money and items they've hoarded. Otherwise, we can't trust them as party members, and they shouldn't trust us."

The spearman just smirks and the boy in blue starts looking nervous. However, the tall, dark-skinned man interrupts. "May I speak?" He walks up to Kibaou, and towers over the man. "My name is Agil. Kibaou-san tell me if I'm right. You're saying that because, the beta testers ignored them, many players died, so they should apologize and compensate us, right?" Kibaou gives a fairly confident agreement. "You got this guide book, right?" He pulls out a small book, which is tiny in his large hands. It was free at the item store." Kibaou confirms this. "This book was compiled of information from the beta testers." Surprise rings out among the crowd. "Listen. Everyone had access to this information, and many still died. This meeting is supposed to be about how we can learn from their deaths and beat the boss." Kibaou storms off and pouts, and both sit down.

Diavel then goes over the boss, Ilfang (Illfang?) the Kobold Lord. He has minions known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He has four health and uses a shield and axe for the first three, then switches to a curved sword called a Talwar. This means his attack patterns change. He also goes over the loot and exp rules. The meeting disbands and everyone goes their separate ways. The spearman disappears into the town.

* * *

The next day, the spearman joins the main group, unnoticed by everyone else. They walk through a forest and the labyrinth to reach the boss room. Finally, they arrive. Diavel addresses the raid group. "Alright everyone. I have one thing to say. Let's win!" A general cry of approval sounds out.

Diavel pushes the door open, and the parties move into position as the boss and his minions approach. The boss room is large and has many tall pillars. The floor, walls, and ceilings are rainbow colored, like stained glass. The boss is gigantic, red, rotund creature, with a thick tail and a dog like head. It has an axe and a round shield, and wears black metal armor from the knee down, a pinkish-purple loincloth with armor, green metal bracers, and a weird hood. The minions wear plate armor and carry large, crude maces. Their exposed hands, feet, and tails are also red.

The battle starts, and the biggest parties, the full ones of six, head to the boss. The smaller ones fan out and engage in combat with the Sentinels, including the spearman. The larger groups block attacks from the boss and switch out to attack under the careful watch of Diavel. He makes a fine commander. The groups are color coded, and the spearman just aids whoever seems to need it, moving almost lazily.

Finally, the boss drops to the last bar of health, all without a single casualty. The red zone is hit and the boss tosses aside his axe, reaching behind him. Diavel suddenly rushes in on his own. The spear user kills the engaged Sentinel and stops, frowning. He notices Diavel smirking at the boy in blue.

The boss pulls out his weapon, and the boy looks surprised. The spear user takes a look at the boss and blinks. Everything moves slowly, and the weapon in Ilfang's hand breaks down into a grid, and a 3D model appears in his peripheral. Text flashes under it. " **Nodachi. Weapon type: Katana."** The man feels chills as he runs towards Diavel, hearing the boy yell out.

Ilfang leaps into the air, dodging Diavel's attack. The beast leaps down, viciously slashing Diavel. The knight flies away, landing next to the boy, who pulls out a health potion. " _Last attack bonus? Unexpectedly greedy of you, Diavel. Still, it really only raises my admiration of you. You helped the beginners, despite being a tester._ "

Diavel burst into rainbow colored fragments. The man rolls his head, turning toward the boss, who the others had been occupying. "Let's do this." He lowers the spear and charges, registering that the boy and cloaked girl are behind him. He slides under Ilfang as he charges up his skill. The boy blocks the attack and the girl moves to attack. The man slashes at the boss' legs, as he hears the boy call out a name, presumably the girl's. She narrowly avoids the attack and counters. However, the boy clashes with Ilfang and gets hit, taking major damage. He's about to get killed when Agil saves him, and several others rush forward. The spear user rejoins the battle, slashing at the boss. Ilfang jumps in the air, aiming for the other players. The boy dashes to meet the boss. The display appears again. " **Ilfang: 1.7 seconds. Player Kirito: 1.9 seconds.** " Deciding that this was the time till sword skills activate, the man throws his spear at the boss' arm, delaying the attack. The spear imbeds in the shoulder, and the boy charges. He hits Ilfang mid-air, and the boy and girl use the switch system to take him down, the boy landing the last attack. The boss dies, and everyone celebrates as the man picks his spear back up. A message comes up. " **Last Attack Bonus: Wyrm Mask.** " The room fades to a normal stone color.

Suddenly, a voice breaks through the cheering. "Why!? Why did you let Diavel die!? You knew that technique the boss used. If you'd told us about it, we could have avoided it!" Suddenly, the air turns cold as hostility and suspicion spread.

A random man cries out. "He must be a beta tester! That's how he knew the attack patterns! Other testers are here too right? Come on out!"

The boy starts looking around in thought. Suddenly, he starts to laugh manically. "Beta tester? Don't compare me to them." He stands up and starts walking. "Most of the thousand beta testers were beginners, who didn't know how to level up. You're all better than them. But I'm different. I reached higher than anyone else in the beta. The reason I knew the boss' skill was because I've fought enemies with katana skills on floors high above. I know a lot. More than any info broker."

Kibaou bursts out. "That's way worse than being a beta tester. That's cheating. You're a cheater!"

Soon varied cries fill the room, of beta tester and cheater, melding into one sound. "Beater, huh? I like it. Yes, I'm a beater." The boy opens his inventory and equips a black coat, giving him a menacing appearance. He starts walking away. The girls stops him and asks how he knew her name. He points to the party HP gauge. He leaves after breaking the party up.

The man starts laughing as well. Genuine laughter. He addresses the blamers. "You know, Diavel was a beta tester too. Also, the weapon was a Nodachi, not a Tengwar." He begins to walk away, equipping the mask as he does so.

"You knew about that too? Are you a beater as well?!" Kibaou.

The man turns his head. His face is covered above the mouth. Fang like spikes are at the edge of each mouth, the nose has slits over it, and his eyes are covered by translucent panels that he can flip up, showing that the mask makes his eyes look like a snake's, with slit pupils. The mask is made of metal with a slight scale pattern visible, and leather straps keep the mask on his head. "No. I'm what I guess you would call a hacker, although it's not on purpose. I can see… things. I guess you can call me the Eye. Yes… my name is Jin the Eye." He faces back forward and walks away.

 **I'm so sorry. I have been working on this for almost half a year, I think. At least a quarter of one. I was just too lazy, and the anime site I used to watch it for reference was buggy, so it was a little too much trouble. Then I switched to Crunchyroll, and the problems go away. Thanks, Crunchyroll. Also, I will be using parts from both the anime and the original material, (manga or light novel? I don't really know myself).**

 **So, the title of the story roughly translates to fake/artificial heart/soul/mind. Some foreshadowing. Like in Blood of Grimm.**

 **The Wyrm Mask… I literally made it up last minute, and I changed its name two times. The first was Vesp Mask, and it was based on a wasp. Then I made it the Serpent Mask, and it was the same as the Wyrm Mask in design.**

 **Also, should I add romance like in my other story? Or not? I'm not planning any at the moment, but I can use a character from the show or make a character if you guys really want.**


	2. Chapter 2: Dark Turns

**I do not own Sword Art Online or affiliated names. I only own my OC(s).**

Jinzou Kokoro: Chapter 2

The players of SAO have cleared all the way to the eighth floor. The number of casualties has dropped to nearly zero since the first floor. Most of the stupid or arrogant people had already died. In fact, most of the deaths so far were victims of player killers, who are growing in number. The problem is becoming rather troubling, as a guild of assassins for hire has appeared by the name of Laughing Coffin. They're small right now, but are growing in number.

" _But the main clearing force isn't too concerned about them. They think that their advanced weapons and armor will protect them in the event that they're attacked. And for now, it might. But not for long. There will be exploits and loopholes in the system. But they won't listen to me_." Jin stands up from the bed in the inn room that he's renting. He still has the armored gloves, but his leggings and tunic are new. They're a matching set, mostly cloth and leather, but with armor plates in the sections with no joints and on the chest and shoulder blades. His spear is now a boar hunting spear: a long reinforced shaft with a cross-shaped piece of metal at the end, the blade long. The metal perpendicular to the blade is meant to stop a boar's charge after impaling it. His mask is still the same, the visor down. He exits the building, heading for the dungeon.

Some rumors had spread, but not as many as those about the 'Black Swordsman'. Jin was still generally tolerated but by the most suspicious of players. The beater is only truly tolerated by those who don't know his identity and the people on the front lines who value his strength, and even then, barely. Jin had met him a few times since the first floor, mostly during boss raids.

Jin is walking along the elevated pathways that make up the eighth floor. The pathways lead from large tree to large tree, and below is an abyss of water. If one were to fall, several ladders are scattered about the floor. He strolls lazily across a large body of water. A dark silhouette appears underwater for a moment, then goes back down, too fast for even Jin to notice. A long line of heavily armored soldiers start passing Jin by. The bridge shakes, and one of the soldiers brushes past Jin, sending him into the unfathomable water below.

Jin's eyes are open in surprise as he plummets, hitting the water. Darkness obscures his vision as he sinks before a blinding light shines. It stops, and he's gone. Nobody noticed a thing, not even that Jin had fallen.

Jin feels a cool, circular breeze. He opens his eyes as he hears a slithering sound. He stands up and looks around. He's in a large, circular room, the walls made of swirling water. The floor is uneven, dark stone. And staring straight at him is a large serpent, at least eight meters long. (About 26 feet for those who normally use the Imperial System, like me.) A dark greenish-blue, with glowing red eyes, it's coated in long, bone-like plates, each a meter long, with the last plate flat and sharp. Its underside is unprotected, and banded like a snake's. It has large, sail-like fins protruding from every third plate. Its grinning maw is filled with wicked looking, curved teeth, with serrations, and two long fangs protruding from each side of its mouth.

Two health bars fill up next to its head, followed by the text: 'Basilisk, Serpent of Terror'. Jin sighs. "A boss? Really? Just my luck. At least it has only two health bars, though that armor is going to be a problem." He draws the spear from his back, holding it in front of him angled upward.

Basilisk rears backwards before lunging. Jin rolls to the side, barely avoiding being flattened by the serpent's gargantuan body. " _I'm on my own, so I should avoid Sword Skills to prevent extra damage from the periods where I can't move._ " He dashes forward, swing the spear in an uppercut aimed for a segment with the underside exposed. The strike hits home, but barely cuts into the monster, chipping away a few pixels of health. He jumps back, avoiding the tail of the monster as it whips around. " _I can't see the data of this boss… This isn't just by chance, is it?_ "

Basilisk's tail glows yellow before it whips around, creating circular slice with some added range. Jin avoids it by jumping backwards, getting grazed on the arm. He pushes against the wall of water in the air, launching himself towards Basilisk. He slides under the tail and uses the spear to slash and brake at the same time. As he slows, he starts to roll to the side to avoid getting crushed. He's too slow however, and Basilisk pins his left arm underneath it. Wincing in pain, Jin jams his spear into the underside of the snake. Releasing the weapon, his hand glows a magenta color before he punches several times. The bladed tail looms over him, and he moves his body to his right. The tail comes like a guillotine, severing his left arm. His health drops a large amount, and he grabs the spear and looks up. The boss's health is in the last quarter of the last bar. He jumps, landing on top of Basilisk. He run towards its head, nearly falling off due to the weight imbalance and the writhing movements of the injured beast.

At the base of the head, he jams the spear into the plate protecting the head, and leans on the shaft of the weapon like a lever. Slowly, the plate is pried off, leaving the head exposed. He picks up the spear hunting style, the point down, and charges it, the blade glowing green. He brings it down, and it created a small ripple in the air. The blade enters the head, right between the eyes, and kills the boss. It dissolves, and Jin falls to the ground.

On his back and out of breath, Jin sees a message box pop up for the last attack bonus and the other drops. The last attack bonus says 'Terror's Grasp'. He opens the menu and equips it and is surprised as his missing arm is replaced by one made of black chainmail and blue-silver plates, in diagonal shapes covering the forearm and upper arm. The elbow has a double spike on it, and the shoulder is a diamond shape, with a slot on one point creating two prongs going up. In the center of the shoulder diamond is a black orb with a white diamond eye inside of it.

The surprise is cut short as the circular air current stops, and the water starts falling inwards towards him, lifting him off the ground. Gaining his sense of direction, he swims upwards. A few minutes later he breaks the surface of the water and, looking around, Jin heads to the nearest ladder.

The Black Swordsman has been mainly grinding mobs at night recently. He has his reasons, and it doesn't matter to Jin. As long as he still makes it to the boss raids, then there shouldn't be a problem. But back to the matters at hand.

It's dusk right now, and Jin is on the trail of a band of thieves, who have been making rather frequent attacks. No real injuries and no casualties yet, but it's only a matter of time. The clearers have reached floor 28 recently, and tensions are running high out of impatience. Some well-armed group is going to get angry eventually, and the bandits won't be able to intimidate them.

Jin has been following the trail for a while now. They've stolen mostly money and raw materials for forging, so they are likely a band of blacksmiths. The attacks have all been in the range of the twelfth through nineteenth floor, and a certain smithy on the thirteenth floor has had a large increase in business due to a sudden increase in quality materials they had in stock. He had followed them, since tonight fits the pattern of attacks, and it turns out that they are indeed the bandits. They're lying in wait next to the road to the dungeon on the fourteenth floor.

There are three of them: all middle-aged men by appearance. One is slightly shorter than the other two. They're crouched down, hidden from view of the road. One is wielding a mace, one a sword and shield, and one an axe. They have fairly standard armor, similar to what Jin is wearing: cloth or leather with small plates. They wear helmets, so their faces are completely hidden.

Jin draws his spear, which is now a simple diamond-headed spear with a small bar perpendicular to the shaft directly underneath the blade. The shaft is rectangular, and is reinforced with several plates nailed to the wood. He flips the visor down on his mask and stalks toward the three men. He has a buttoned up coat over his chest, and a faint clink of metal is audible, just barely, from his arm. He presses the spearhead against the neck of the shortest man.

"You three, stop and get on the path." The men do so, although the one with the mace fidgets nervously. There are no sounds. No mobs are nearby, and no people were in the dungeon, since news of the bandits, the weaker people all stayed away during the night, and the stronger people mostly grinded the higher levels. "Okay, now, I know you're the bandits that have been attacking and looting money and ore from people. Now I want to hear a motive, and I may let you go."

The mace user wildly swings, spinning around before leaping backwards. Jin was out of range, but is instantly alert, taking a combat stance. Jin slowly backs away from the other two, before they turn as well. Luckily they don't attack. In fact…

"Calm down! We just need to explain this, we're not going to die! Drop your weapon and come back here."

"Shut up! We don't know him, and he knows our secret, he needs to die!" The man's eyes are frantic and wide, visible through his visor.

Without another word, he dashes toward Jin, the mace waving above his head. He swings downward in an unreserved overhead blow, but Jin easily sidesteps. Locking the weapon on the ground with the butt of his spear, Jin strikes the man in the face with his left hand, then combos by closing in and elbowing the man's chin.

Unfortunately, Jin is level 43. The man is probably at most level 25. The armor the man is wearing is overridden by Jin's metal arm, and the man's health drains rapidly. Jin's eyes open wide, and his hand goes to grab a crystal, but he fumbles, and the man dies.

"…" Jin looks slowly at the other two men. "I'm… I'm sorry."

The man with the axe stands up, and charges, screaming. "Don't do this! I don't want to kill you! Just calm down!" The axe comes from the side, and Jin holds up his arm. He grabs the axe and his hand glows. He closes his fist, and the axe shatters.

The man is startled and collapses. The man with the sword drops his weapons and slowly approaches the other man. He grabs him and pulls him aside, letting him sit next to a tree. He then approaches Jin. "I thought this would happen one day. We just needed some money to support the four of us… Do me a favor. Bring this money and this message to our smithy. You know where it is right?" Jin nods, so the man continues. "We'll go to prison peacefully. And I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean to kill my friend, and you only defended yourself. It's our fault."

Jin takes out a warp crystal, and the two men walk into, headed for the prison. Jin goes back to the thirteenth floor, and heads to the smithy.

Once there, he enters, picking the lock on the door. There are two floors of the building. The lower is the workshop and actual shop, while the upper is a living quarters. Jin sneaks upstairs, where there are four bedrooms. The first three are empty, but the last one has a teenage girl, maybe age sixteen, sleeping in it. She has brown hair going down to just above her shoulder, and she's dressed in red.

" _… She's all alone now, isn't she? Now I feel really bad. How much was left for her?_ " He checks the pouch of money the man had given him. " _3000? That's not enough…_ " He adds to the pouch, putting in another 10,000 cor. Placing the message and money gently on the bedside-table, he sneaks out, then heads to the inn of the town.

 **So, this chapter is finally done! Sorry it took so long, but I was running dry on ideas, especially since I was lacking on ideas to make it dark. Then I remembered something from a certain episode of the anime that gave me inspiration.**

 **Also, sorry for the shorter-than-my-average chapter, but the chapters for this story will probably be like that. So yeah. On the other hand, I'll start working on chapter one of my own original story Kaze no Kage, found here:** **s/3288051/1/Kaze-no-Kage**

 **Hope you guys have enjoyed this, also, still deciding whether or not to add romance to this story or not.**


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